The Significance of Sex in Seattle

People are having fun with the results of a recent survey comparing the sexual habits of residents of various U.S. cities. Seattleites, for example, report having sex 75 times a year, compared to, say, Miamians (102 times a year) and Minneapolitans (64 times a year); the national average is 82. In Seattle, we presumably have sex for an average of 27 minutes, compared to, again, those 35-minute dynamos in Miami. And in Seattle, only 56% of us are “always up for sex regardless of temperature”; that’s last among 10 cities. Speaking of temperature, 68% of the respondents have had sex outside, 40% in the rain.

But I don’t want to talk about sex. I want to talk about something much more interesting–statistics.

This is instructive. The results of this survey are already disseminated–if that’s the correct word–all across the country. The data are being interpreted as facts. Who knows what will emanate from those interpretations: increased tourism for Miami? flagellation of the Scandinavians in Seattle and Minneapolis who are thought to have brought down the average? more police patrols of parks during rainstorms?

But let’s look a tad more deeply at the survey. As a matter of fact, let’s look a tad more deeply at any survey whose results we take as the gospel. Here are a few basic questions to ask ourselves:

• How many people took the survey?
• What was the sampling procedure?
• Was the survey given anonymously?
• Were the questions neutral?
• Were the questions understandable?
• Who sponsored the survey?

In this case, the survey was conducted online among a sample of 1,000 men and women. Another 150 surveys were conducted online in each of the ten largest U.S. cities–number of respondents unknown (as well as the number of respondents who had the opportunity but who declined to take the survey). The survey was sponsored by Trojan Condoms.

Think about that: 1,000 respondents for the main results. What is that, 20 people per state? Suddenly, the data aren’t looking too reliable anymore. And I don’t know how these people were selected. Were they all in their 20s? Were the people in Miami all in their 20s and the people in Minneapolis all in their 60s? What proportion were male and female, gay and straight, liberal and conservative, single and married, and, for that matter, ugly and beautiful?

How were the questions worded? Did the survey ask something like “When you have sex, how long does it generally last?” If it did, when does “sex” start and end? For some people, it may start with “You sure look great tonight” and end with “Good night, dear” or perhaps “See ya.” If that’s true, their “duration” may be a lot longer than those who consider sex to start and end with, well, the act.

And would some people lie on a survey like this? Would they say they had sex outside when they hadn’t? Would they say they never had sex in the rain when they had? Would they exaggerate the frequency and duration of their sex? Would people in some parts of the country be more likely to dissemble than people in others? We don’t know.

Really, as amusing as it may be, I don’t care about this survey. I do care about political surveys, however, because they seem to have an effect on both policies and voter behavior. But the same questions apply. When we hear about survey results indicating that a certain percentage of people disapprove of, say, President Obama’s handling of health care, what can we reasonably infer? What did the people who responded think that “handling of health care” means? How were the questions asked? And who responded?

Finally, who sponsored the survey? Would you trust a survey by a cigarette manufacturer that showed a high percentage of people believing that cigarettes shouldn’t be taxed? Would you trust a survey by the Catholic church that showed a high percentage of people believing that pederasty wasn’t a particular problem? Would you trust a survey by a candidate that showed a high percentage of people believing in that person’s stands on issues? We don’t often have access to the surveys themselves or how they were administered; that’s why we may have to rely on the integrity and neutrality of the administrators. But we have to ask.

So who really knows about Seattleites’ sexual habits? The Trojan survey may be entirely accurate. Then again, we may be having more, longer, better, and rainier sex than those Floridian pretenders.